AN effective floorplan is paramount to a successful adventure on the road

An old wise man once said “Tis better to plan now, than to rebuild later” I don’t know who this wise man is, and indeed he may not even have said that, but I am sure thats what he would have said if he knew anything about housebussing.

To build first and plan later is a sure fire way of getting it wrong and will make your travelling a lot more stressful.

Design
You’ve decided on the type and size of your housebus/truck, and what its purpose will be. Either a fulltime living vehicle or a holiday wagon. Both have entirely different sets of requirements. Now get a few pieces of paper and pens out and gather the family around.
 
Try to make your “designs” roughly to scale. EG, 1m=5cm. Maths style graph paper is ideal. Draw in the fixed items: the engine location, the wheel wells, the main entrance (this can be moved) and any other bumps and humps that may be in your vehicle.

The next thing to do is cut out (preferable to scale) the shapes of other fixtures in your vehicle. Shower, dunny, sink, stove, fridge, etc from paper or cardboard. Coloured is good. Spend some time moving the cut outs around and keep a tally of the best layouts that suit your circumstances.

Make sure to get everyone to design there “perfect” layout. Gather the best of the designs, (hopefully, for each acceptable design you have drawn a seperate copy for reference) and discuss the merits and benefits of each of the best plans with everyone.

Cab
If your cab is seperate from the living area of the vehicle then you will need to make sure the cab can carry everyone in comfort when travelling or have extra alternative extra transport because it is illegal in NZ to carry passengers in a seperate compartment of a road-going vehicle. With that in mind, it would probably be beneficial to have a vehicle that has access to the cab from the main living section.

Personal
If you have personal requirements then it is important to keep these at the top of your list. After this first round of planning you will most probably come up with a solution that appears to be the best solution for everyone. If thats the case, then sit on it for a few weeks (or even longer). Go back to your designs and check everything you want and need is going to be adequately represented. It is probable that because of cost, space and other restraints, you will need to leave out a few things. (like the 52″ plasma screen). Aim for an acceptable compromise.

Sleeping
One of the most important considerations is the sleeping arrangements for yourselves and possible guests etc. A bad nights sleep is no good for you and definitely no good for those around you. I’m 6’1” and one of my pet hates is my feet hanging off the end of the bed while my head is at right angles to the headboard. Not a good scene.
 
Make sure your beds are long enough and also wide enough so that your not going to fall out every time you roll over. Also keep in mind the number of people in your family/group and everyones need for privacy.

Kitchen(ette)
Entirely dependent on the type of vehicle you have or are getting, but the preference is the kitchen should be in such a place that pots and pans simmering away on the cooktop are not going to get bumped around by the whanau.

Put the fridge in the most accessible area (as it is used most often) and the stove/cooktop in the least traffic area. Consider the flow of food preparation and cooking. Zigzagging all around the place is going to cause headaches.

If you’re a left-handed cook, it may be prudent to have the stove/cooktop on the left of the bench space. The preference is from bench to cooktop to table, but is entirely at your discretion.
 
Dining and Living
If possible, make this area at the head of the vehicle as the driver and passenger seats can be used as main seating. Remember the old red trains? They had those great brown seats that could face both ways. Ideal as a passenger seat in the front of a bus. (Or something of a little more modern design)

Utilise couches and seating areas that could be converted into a sleeping place for those unexpected visitors. The dining table is an important consideration as well. If its fixed in position, you will lose a lot of valuable floor space. This could be an important consideration in a smaller vehicle, a larger vehicle with slide outs probalby not so important. Again, think of the number of people that will be using the vehicle. Some later designs even have the dining table retractable out of the floor!

Doors and Windows
If possible, make your main doorway in the middle of your vehicle. This has been proven to maximise traffic flow and lessen tempers in the wetter climes! I have seen a number of buses that have kept all the windows from when the vehicle was used as a passenger bus.

Its always good to have a good amount of wallspace as well as windows. If your vehicle is like this, then it may pay to cover up some of those windows. And I don’t mean with curtains!

One thing that is sure to stuff up your travelling in a bus or truck is if your having to stoop all the time. Make sure you have plenty of headroom. This probably isn’t much of a problem with buses, but some trucks have higher chassis rails and were not originally designed to accomodate people.

StorageSpace is valuable. Wherever you can safely use an area to store equipment etc, you can be sure you will end up using it and its going to be important. Design your seating so that you can lift the seat and have a storage locker.

Lipped shelves designed around the decor of the vehicle are great ways to store items out of the way. Ensure any shelving space you have can be effectively locked off for travelling.

There is plenty of space under the bed as well. By raising your bed island a couple of extra feet, you have huge amounts of storage available. What else were you going to use all that space around your head for?

OK. Now you know how the interior of your vehicle is going to work, its a good time to figure out the important things that keep your life sane while on the road. Like the water tanks and Insulation.